Tetreau Won't Return To Fairfield Politics, Despite Nomination

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield’s former first selectman — who oversaw the town during the contamination and mismanagement of the Fairfield fill pile — has withdrawn his name after he was recently nominated to be a member of the Democratic Town Committee, party leadership said Sunday.

The Republican Town Committee distributed a news release over the weekend decrying the possibility of Mike Tetreau’s return to Fairfield politics.

“The Tetreau administration lacked transparency, ignored directives from federal agencies, ignored RFP procedures and five employees who Mike Tetreau had daily contact with were charged with felonies,” Republican Vice Chairman Chris Tymniak, who was a Fairfield selectman during Tetreau’s tenure, said in the news release

In July, Tetreau was identified in court documents as an uncharged co-conspirator in the criminal investigation surrounding the pile. Tetreau told residents while in office in 2019 that town officials had no information about the investigation into contamination and corruption at the site, even though he had received unsigned police records about the case weeks earlier, the documents said.

Tetreau was one of about 100 Democrats endorsed for committee membership candidacy in a majority vote at a Jan. 10 party caucus, according to town records.

“Mr. Tetreau submitted his name for nomination to the 2022-2024 DTC at a Democratic Caucus along with over 100 other Fairfield Democrats,” Democrat Chairman Steve Sheinberg said in an email. “By DTC rules and long-standing custom at Fairfield Democratic Caucuses, all registered Democrats are nominated by the Caucus, unless there are more candidates than membership positions. That is no longer the case since we switched to an at-large DTC. Mr. Tetreau was nominated. He has withdrawn his nomination. No one has yet been elected to the 2022-24 DTC.”

Tetreau did not respond Sunday to a phone call seeking comment.

Seven former town employees and contractors are accused of a range of offenses in connection with the pile, including receiving kickbacks, illegal dumping and forgery. During Tetreau’s time as first selectman, asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls were placed at sites across town. Cleanup is expected to range from $19 million to $31 million.

“I just don’t understand,” First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick, a Republican who unseated Tetreau in 2019, said Sunday in reference to Tetreau’s committee nomination, adding she felt it was a “mistake.” “Regardless of party or anything like that, what happened in the town of Fairfield under the leadership of Mike Tetreau is pretty stunning.”